The former soldier describes how he was “terrified” after being captured as he demanded that war-torn Ukraine receive fighter aircraft and warned Vladimir Putin, “One day you will be found out.”
A British national who was captured by Russian forces while fighting alongside Ukrainian soldiers recalled being tortured and rendered unable to walk as a result of his ordeal.
Shaun Pinner was one of five Britons released from Russian detention in Ukraine last September in a prisoner swap.
The former soldier, who appeared on this week’s Beth Rigby Interviews, also demanded that Ukraine receive fighter aircraft as part of “continued support” to stop Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
And he warned the Russian president, “You will be exposed one day.”
Before being detained in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine, Mr. Pinner, from Bedfordshire, claims he was serving with regular military units in Mariupol.
Recalling how his captors had shocked him with electricity. He told Rigby: “You feel as though your muscles are bursting out of your body.
“And the following day, my calves were extremely swollen. My capillaries were oozing blood from my legs.
“When I removed my thermal, I was bleeding from my leg due to the electric charge, and my legs had swollen to the point where I was unable to walk.”
The POW said a guy disrobed to check for right-wing tattoos before stabbing him in the leg.
“I was gushing all over my legs and he just said, “Oh.”
“I was yelling, and then 200 volts passed through me on the chair, controlling my leg, and I was standing up when he electrocuted me inside.
“And I didn’t ask any inquiries.”
I was terrified.
Before the first anniversary of the invasion on Friday, Mr. Pinner told Mr. Rigby what he saw while fighting in Ukraine: “The bombardment extends back to Mariupol from the front lines.
“I observed a school with the children’s coats strung up. Where they had been evacuated and placed in a cellar, and they simply struck the school, unconcerned.
“They were targeting any government building they could find.”
He and his staff gave the bombing’s sound a nickname “Phil Collins” – adding: “De dom. It sounds exactly like that rhythm as it comes in – very slowly, it builds up, and then it’s bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop”
Mr. Pinner recalled the instant the Russians crossed the border during the initial invasion of Ukraine “Your adrenaline is pumping. You’re anxious and frightened.
“You know individuals who claim they are not afraid. I was terrified. It’s Russia, you know.”
In addition, he urged the United Kingdom to provide Ukraine with the fighter aircraft requested by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Mr. Pinner informed Rigby, “They require ongoing support.”
“If you ask the foreign combatants there, they just want to support,”
He acknowledged that it is difficult to train individuals to operate fighter aircraft. But added, “That’s not my responsibility; I just want fighter jets.”
And Mr. Pinner declared Ukraine should not engage in peace talks with Putin just yet.
“How much of America, Norway, or the United Kingdom are you willing to sacrifice for peace? is one of the questions I ask people.
“I don’t think the United States would concede even an inch, particularly not the United Kingdom.
“So, you know, Ukraine is precisely the same.
“If we give an inch now, they will return in three or five years and press further, as they did with Crimea.”
